The Essence of it All
by DJ OMiY
Summary: Welcome to MySims, the game where nothing happens...until now! Someone is trying to hurt residents of Ibamen. Can Adam Stenallo, the town's new essence mason, along with his team of citizens, track down the culprit? Reviews appreciated!
1. Arrival

A/N: Wow…Another story. YES! This grew out of my intense desire for something to actually happen in the game MySims. So, my town of _cough cough_ IBAMEN will finally get to see some actual story. This story also takes things up a notch from the cutesy-cartoon that is MySims. Be careful, because this story tells about the game, and spoils a few of the cool surprises there. Not many, but there are a few. Let the never-before-heard-of saga of my town commence!

P.S. (If it sounds remotely cool, you probably can't do it in the game.)

**_THE ESSENCE OF IT ALL_**

**Chapter 1: Arriving**

Mayor Rosalyn looked expectantly at her watch. She knew that the train was due any minute now. Sure enough, she could her a train whistle echoing down the tunnel. In another minute, the train was in the station, dropping off a lone passenger. He exited the train into the sunlight and shielded his eyes. He set his backpack on the ground as Mayor Rosalyn ran up to him.

"Hello, and welcome to Ibamen!" She smiled.

"Thanks. It's nice to travel to new places."

"Here, let's go talk in the town hall."

He walked through the streets of the town. There were only a few houses. He had heard that this place was run-down, but this was somewhat ridiculous! Mayor Rosalyn led him up the steps of the surprisingly ornate town hall, where a girl in a black dress was reading a book.

"Good morning, Violet."

"Good morning, Mayor."

"That's Violet, she lives in that house over by the river. You'll be living near her."

He took a second look back at her and was beginning to feel doubts that it would be a pleasant experience.

"She's living proof that first impressions mean nothing. She's actually quite a nice girl."

It didn't life his hopes too much, but it helped.

Mayor Rosalyn sat him down at her desk, giving him a form.

"It's the form you need to fill out to get a house. Once you fill it out, you're all set and we can move on."

He looked at the form and began to enter information.

_Name: Frank Stenallo_

_Age: 15_

_Gender: Male_

_Address: 3 Blossom Street_

_Essence Skill: Superior_

He handed the form back to Mayor Rosalyn and she nodded.

"All right," she said. "Let's get you a house."

They walked outside to an empty lot. Frank looked around. There was no house, for sure, but he had an idea of what he needed to do.

"Frank, you need to practice your essence abilities. Try making a house from one of the six castes of emotion."

Frank thought it over.

"The six castes are cute, fun, geeky, spooky, studious, and tasty, right?"

He had always considered himself a bookworm, so he decided to make himself a studious house.

He pictured it in his mind: the recessed entryway, the fountain, the lion statues guarding the door, the large second floor balcony…

His hands began to glow green.

Suddenly, he felt a shake, and saw a house, just as he had pictured, appear before him. He smiled broadly, and Mayor Rosalyn was ecstatic.

"Wonderful! Let's move on. You'll want to meet your neighbors! Also, I want to discuss more of why we called you to live here."

Frank looked around, and saw the sparsely populated town. What fun he was going to have.

To sum it up, Frank is taking a job as an essence mason to the town. The person can manipulate essences to make houses, furniture, and other various things. Play MySims and you get the gist of it.


	2. Meet the Neighbors

A/N: The setup was simple and essentially an elaborated first few minutes of gameplay. Now, we'll start deviating from actual game mechanics and get a story going.

**_THE ESSENCE OF IT ALL_**

**Chapter 2: Meet the Neighbors**

Frank walked towards Violet's house, where she seemed to be talking to another girl, slightly younger than her.

"But, Violet! It's my passion! I can't give it up!"

"All right, go on! But remember: Don't get me involved!"

The younger girl turned and walked away as Violet sighed.

"What's the matter?" Frank asked. Well, he had to meet everyone somehow.

"It's my sister, Poppy. She owns the flower shop over on the other end of Blossom Street. She keeps wanting me to work there…but I'm allergic to flowers!"

"That a pretty good reason not to…why does she insist?"

Violet looked down. "Because…I'm ashamed. I never told her. I'm supposed to be the strong, older sister that keeps her in check. If you haven't noticed, she's an insanely perky individual. I'm not sure how well she would take it if she realized her older sister was…weak."

_Did I walk into a soap opera?_ Frank thought. "Don't worry, Violet. Trust me. I'm allergic to seafood, and I tell everyone that to avoid menu confusions. Saves everyone trouble, no? Also, it's called the miracle of Claritin."

Frank handed her some Claritin and Violet glanced at him. "Maybe you're right, I'll tell her as soon as I can."

Seeing her walk out of the shop again, and head for the town hall, Violet rushed towards her.

"Hey, Poppy!"

Frank shook his head. Well…that's one way to meet the townsfolk!

He began to wander towards the other house in the town. He had met Violet, the building across from the town hall appeared to be a hotel, and Poppy clearly owned the obnoxiously pink shop covered in flowers down the street. So, that left the orange, one-floor home about 20 yards away.

A man with a five-o'-clock shadow and a baseball cap exited the home. He sat down at the pier by the river and began to fish.

"Uh…hello there." Frank said cautiously.

"Well, how you doing?" the man smiled.

Frank sat down next to him. "I'm new here; the essence mason."

The man raised his eyebrows. "So you're the one Rosa has been telling us about this whole time. Hope you enjoy it here…we could use it."

"What's your name?"

"Patrick. You?"

"Frank. Frank Stenallo."

"Pleased to meet you Frank. You should probably check out the hotel. Random people sometimes stop here, but every town needs an essence mason to get residents to stay."

Frank decided that the hotel was his next stop. "Thanks for the advice, Patrick."

"Anytime. Want some fish to take home?"

"No thanks, I'm allergic to seafood."

Patrick burst out laughing, so hard that he almost fell off the pier.

"What's so funny?" Frank asked.

"Not actual fish! Fish _essence_. You'll need some once your essence tasks start kicking into high gear."

"Oh…which in that case thanks, I will."

Frank put the essences into his backpack, and entered the Ibamen Hotel. There, Mayor Rosalyn was talking to the Bellhop.

"Hello, Frank," Mayor Rosalyn said. "Perfect timing. Buddy and I can explain to you more about your job here as an essence mason."

Frank sat down and prepared to listen.

"Our town used to be great, but our old Mason had to leave. No one knew where he went, and he never came back. So, sims bean to leave town. Before long, only a few faithful sims remained: Poppy, Patrick, Violet, Buddy, and myself. Even the hotel manager left, leaving Buddy as the only employee in the whole hotel! So, we put the ad in for a new essence mason, and you decided to answer!"

"Wow," Frank said. "How long has it been since the last mason left?"

"About 10 years," Buddy answered.

"Geez. Ok, so what exactly are my duties?"

Mayor Rosalyn cleared her throat. "Well, the houses are a major issue, also for what goes in the houses. As you'll notice, even your house is bare inside. There are plenty of essences around town that you can use to make things and paint with."

"I'll need a place to work," Frank stated.

"A workshop lot is placed directly next to your house. Feel free to build one."

Frank got up and thanked the Mayor and Buddy. He'd check the hotel later, since it appeared to be empty today. He waved at Poppy on the way home, and stood in front of his workshop lot.

The tall structure…big open windows…allowing light to fill the interior…

His hands glowed green.

CRASH! A new building stood before him.

"I could get used to this."

He went inside and, thankfully, saw that at least his workshop had tools. He decided that necessities came first. He moved blocks around with his "masonry," and applied some spare essences he brought from home. The bed was now light oak wood with an organic sheets and mattress. He shrank it into an essence form and left the workshop.

He placed it inside of his house and sat upon it.

"This place is different from home," he said to himself. "I hope I can do my job."

He got up and left again, heading for the hotel. With any luck, some traveler had arrived and was waiting to meet the new essence mason.

Luck was with him.

"Maa nante koto nanda! What a quiet town!" a man exclaimed. He sounded oriental.

Frank could hear Buddy reply. "Yes, it is quite peaceful, but we expect that to change with our new essence mason."

"I heard that one is now living here! Is he skilled?"

"Why not just ask?" Frank said, smiling and stepping into the hotel lobby.

"Konichiwa, Ishiku! I am Chef Watanabe, one of the finest sushi chefs ever! I am interested in a new vista, and an up-and-coming town sounds perfect!"

Frank grinned and extended his hand. "Welcome to Ibamen, Chef Watanabe."

The Chef shook Frank's hand and said that he would wait at the hotel until Frank finished the restaurant.

Frank did his crazy-close-his-eyes-and-think-deeply-about-said-building thing and Chef Watanabe had his sushi bar. They worked together with Frank using essences to put together a sink, a refrigerator, and even a karaoke machine and a hot tub! It wasn't long before the place was open for business!

The town met at Watanabe Sushi for a "Starting Anew" party.

"Here's to Frank!" said Poppy, raising her glass of soda. Everyone else toasted Frank and dug in to fantastic sushi. Frank looked in his backpack and dug out his pager. Buddy was calling him from the hotel.

"I'll be back. Don't wait up."

He left and headed towards the hotel. Night was falling, and he looked around nervously. The town was a little creepy at night.

Frank stopped.

Who was that, over behind Violet's house? Frank looked harder but didn't see anybody, eventually giving up. He entered the hotel to see it full of people!

"Buddy!" Frank yelled. "Do all of these people want to stay here?!"

"Apparently they do!" Buddy grinned back.

Frank ran from person to person, asking about their interests and possible business opportunities in Ibamen. He eventually got a lot of sims to stay, and updated the town directory to this:

**Frank Stenallo, an essence mason** (studious, fun)

**Mayor Rosalyn, Ibamen's mayor** (studious, tasty)

**Chef Watanabe, a sushi connoisseur** (tasty, studious)

**Buddy, Ibamen Hotel's bellhop** (geeky, tasty)

**Poppy, a florist** (cute, studious)

**Violet, Poppy's sister** (spooky, fun)

**Patrick, a fisherman** (tasty, spooky)

**MFranke Zoe, a mystic** (spooky, geeky)

**Ms. Nicole, a boutique owner** (cute, studious)

**Shirley, a salon owner and Ms. Nicole's sister** (cute, tasty)

**Master Aran, a Sim-Fu sensei** (fun, studious)

**Chef Gino Delicisio, an Italian chef** (tasty, fun)

**Sir Vincent Skullfinder, a Museum curator** (spooky, studious)

**Vic Vector, an arcade owner** (geeky, spooky)

**DJ Candy Supergroove, a DJ and club owner** (fun, geeky)

**Elmira, a librarian** (studious, spooky)

**Dr. F, a mad scientist **(geeky, tasty)

**Roxie Road, an ice cream parlor owner** (tasty, cute)

They were all happily moved into town, and Frank stayed up day and night working for the sims. He needed to make Elmira some spooky bookshelves, while Roxie needed a new ice cream stand. He supplied Vic Vector with video games and Master Aran with practice dummies. Frank helped DJ Candy drop some beats and Chef Gino _not_ drop pizzas.

It was a full week later when Frank got his first all-night sleep. And boy, it felt good to him. Everyone was happy now and a dinner was being held at the town hall next week in his honor. The town was thriving once again, and it was all because of him.

Ready for some actual story? Thought so. I pretty much summed up MySims in this chapter. Actually, like the last few paragraphs. Like I said…not a lot happens.

Maa nante koto nanda (Oh my god!)  
Konichiwa, Ishiku (Hello, mason.)


	3. Where is She?

A/N: Now, it's time to get some story!

**_THE ESSENCE OF IT ALL_**

**Chapter 3: Where is She?**

Frank awoke to another day in Ibamen. He was really beginning to like it here, and everyone was being successful. People were coming from all over to visit the many sims that offered various services. Chef Watanabe's was often by reservation now, although Chef Gino's was more casual and not as busy.

Roxie dished out only the best ice cream, MFranke Zoe could predict just about anything, and everyone danced the night away at Club Candy! Frank was glad that he wasn't a traveling essence mason, or he would have to leave!

He sat down on a bench in the middle of town. Watching everyone else in the town run about their business. It was Saturday, and tomorrow would be Sunday. The trains didn't run on Sunday, so no visitors were around then.

"Hey, Frank!" he heard.

Frank looked up to see Violet and DJ Candy waving him over.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We're having a dance competition tonight in the park," answered Violet, clearly excited for it. "We were hoping you could essence up a billboard."

Frank thought about what he would need, and agreed to it.

"Any specific essences you want on it?" Frank inquired.

DJ Candy thought for a second. "I heard that there's a cave in the back of the forest. It's filled with essences you can prospect. One of them is a musical note essence I believe. That would be perfect for the billboard!"

"Ok, but isn't the forest blocked by logs?"

"Go talk to Mayor Rosalyn," Violet suggested. "If we're a one-star town by now, we'll have had a saw commissioned to us. She'll have it."

"Thanks, guys."

Frank strolled over to town hall and, sure enough, the saw was right there. Mayor Rosalyn gave him permission to open the forest, and he did so without delay.

Frank entered the quiet forest. It was different than the rest of town. There was more room in here for houses…maybe he'd move in some more sims when he got the chance. Following his map, he eventually made it to the cave and cautiously entered it.

He whipped out his essence detector and began prospecting.

**-fifteen minutes later-**

Frank exited the cave with his essences and built the billboard. Thanks to it, the party was amazing.

Every sim showed up to the competition, and every style of dance was shown! Frank was laughing and having a great time. Then, DJ's stereo started to play "Glamorous" by Fergie, which was pretty much Poppy's song. He saw Violet a couple yards away.

"Violet!" he yelled across the noise. Violet looked over at him.

"Where's Poppy? This is, like, _her_ song, isn't it?"

Violet thought for a minute and looked around. She didn't see Poppy anywhere. Not only that, but she was sure that she was excited about coming to the party tonight.

Violet yelled back, "She probably got caught up tending to her flowers or something. Let's go find her!"

Frank and Violet left the party, being held over by the river. They walked across town to Poppy's shop.

"Odd," Violet thought. "The lights aren't on."

She knocked on the door. "Poppy! Poppy, it's Violet!" No answer. She knocked harder. "Poppy! Open up!"

Frank pushed her out of the way and closed his eyes. His hands glowed green and the door was reduced to essence. He picked it up to rebuild the door later.

"You didn't have to do that!" Violet exclaimed.

"You have a better idea?"

The flower shop was deserted. It didn't seem like Poppy was in the shop.

"Violet, are you sure Poppy's here?"

"Her necklace is over there on the table. She never leaves home without it."

"I'll take your word for it."

They searched the bottom floor. Where was she? They looked through the aisles of flowers. They searched behind the counter. Finally, it was time to head upstairs.

Violet was becoming more and more nervous the longer the search went on. She shakily brought out a spare key to unlock the door to the second floor.

"Maybe she's sleep-"

The door had a violent red streak across it. Frank went to open the door, but Violet stopped him.

"Don't open it, don't open it…"

He did anyway. Violet turned away.

The bed had blood on it. The walls were covered in bloody handprints. But, Poppy was not there.

"Where is she!? Where is she!?" Violet cried. Suddenly, a piece of paper floated down from the rafters.

_Her life is still hers, for now.  
Where the music plays, the sports go, and the dreams fly.  
Find her before you are too late._

Frank pondered over the note while Violet recovered from completely breaking down.

"Music plays? Do you think DJ Candy did this?" Violet asked shakily.

"Not really," Frank replied. "Aren't you really good friends with her? Let me think for a second."

What did he do since he got here? He built his house and workshop. He built numerous houses and many pieces of furniture. He built the billboard…

"The billboard!" he yelled in triumph.

"What?" Violet said.

"Remember when you and DJ Candy asked me to make a billboard for the party?"

"Yeah…?"

"DJ Candy mentioned the cave in the forest. The three essences that can be prospected in that cave are Musical Notes, Soccer Balls, and Flying Carpets!"

"So it _is_ her!"

"Violet, why are you so excited to pin the crime on someone already!? Let's find Poppy first!"

Violet and Frank burst out of the shop, heading for the forest. Vic Vector and Mayor Rosalyn were walking home after the party, and saw them hurrying.

"Hey, hey!" Vic laughed. "What's going on?"

They stopped the catch their breath. "Something's happened to Poppy," Frank panted. "She's hidden in the forest."

An extremely awkward silence followed.

Mayor Rosalyn took charge. "I'll round up the town residents. Violet, come with me and we'll get the police. Vic, go with Frank and find Poppy!"

Frank and Vic took off for the forest. Once inside, they were alert for every sound, every motion, and every shadow. They carefully made their way back to the cave Frank entered earlier.

"Vic, it's too dark in here!"

"Leave it to me."

Vic pulled out his modified Nintendo DS with adjustable lighting to make a makeshift flashlight. They looked around the cave, searching for Poppy.

It wasn't long before they struck gold.

"Oh my god…"

"Is she alive?"

Poppy lay there on the floor of the cave, a large gash on her side bleeding profusely. Vic raised his DS to see that someone had carved a message onto the cave wall.

"Frank, look at this."

Frank did indeed look at it.

_My motives now not clear to see  
Though many you will try to save  
She played with dolls and took her tea  
But that is not her destinY_

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and decided that the only thing to do now was get Poppy out.

"Here, we'll have to carry her through the forest. Hurry!"

They picked her up, using Vic's shirt to slow the bleeding. What a sight for the townsfolk! Frank and a shirtless Vic carrying a bloody Poppy out of the forest. Everyone gathered around. Frank could see Violet crying and actually apologizing to DJ Candy for thinking the things she did. He saw paramedics rush up and whisk Poppy to the train, where she could be treated. She was saved.

Frank looked at the rest of the townsfolk. He didn't believe that it was an inside job. Something was different about this that didn't seem like the work of anyone before him.

"I do not suspect the townsfolk," he announced. "I do not believe that anyone here had a motive for hurting Poppy. There are two clues. Both were notes with riddles. The first led us to Poppy. The second, I don't know."

"Everyone," the Mayor jumped in. "Be careful. This came as a shock to all of us, but I'm sure that we can get through it together."

She turned to Frank. "Frank, organize a team. We need to stop this madman before he, or she, can strike again!"

Frank decided that the best way was volunteers. "Does anyone wish to help me bring this person to justice?"

Violet raised a shaky hand. So did Vic. Chef Watanabe's hand went up. DJ Candy walked up to him and so did Roxie. Frank looked at his team and nodded. He would need their help to solve the mystery.

What is it that makes writing murder/violent fanfiction in cutesy-cartoony games fun? Trust me…there's enough of it in Animal Crossing.


	4. The Initial Clue

A/N: Things got a little interesting last chapter! I hope you noticed a key fact about Frank's team. If not, it will be explained later.

**_THE ESSENCE OF IT ALL_**

**Chapter 4: The Initial Clue**

Frank and his team went into his workshop.

"This will be our base of operations. We'll do our thinking here. It will allow us to be separated from town and even to work with essences."

Everyone nodded in approval.

Frank laid out a paper that had the two clues written on them.

"Let's start with our only lead. These two clues."

Roxie looked hard, but didn't see anything useful. DJ Candy wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Violet was having a hard time keeping her emotions in check. However, Chef Watanabe noticed something.

"Look at the second clue, yes?"

"Go on, Chef," Frank urged.

"Poppy was hurt with a large gash down the side, right? Well, look at some of the words. This could be coincidence, but he uses the words see, you, and tea, in that order. C, U, and T. CUT!"

The team looked at the clue again and smiled. Chef was on to something. Frank grinned and looked again with that in mind.

"Does anyone else see that he capitalized the Y at the end of destiny?"

A collective 'yes' was heard.

"Well, what if…" Something clicked. Frank thought it over again, and it all made sense. "Sorry, Chef, but I think you were only ¾ right! We missed the last part of the clue!"

"What do you mean?" Roxie asked.

"Say the word destiny, Roxie."

"Destiny."

"Now, what sound does the Y make?"

Roxie was starting to catch on. "It sounds like an E."

"C, U, T, E!" Frank said in triumph.

"CUTE?!" The team yelled.

"This person is referencing Poppy's favorite essence caste, cute! Maybe he'll try to get someone else in a different caste next!"

"There's an order to the castes, right?" Vic asked.

"Yeah," Frank replied. "First cute, fun, geeky, spooky, studious, then tasty."

"Then someone with the favorite caste "fun" is the next target?" DJ Candy asked shakily.

"Quite possibly," Frank admitted.

Violet's cell phone began to ring, breaking the mood. The room was dead silent as she opened it.

"H-Hello?"

"Sis!"

"POPPY?!"

The whole room exploded in much-needed joy as the voice of the perky florist was heard.

"Geez," Poppy said. "You guys celebrating without me?"

Violet put her on speaker. "No, we're celebrating _for_ you!"

Everyone said hello to Poppy and asked how she was doing. She explained that she was doing fine and they stitched up the gash fine. She would have been in danger had they not found her. Frank stepped up to the phone with a solemn look on his face, quieting the room.

"Poppy, it's Frank."

"Hey, Frank! How've you been?"

"Good, good. Listen, Poppy, what happened?"

There was silence for a few seconds.

"I was getting ready to go to the dance competition, when I heard someone come in the shop and start heading up the stairs. I thought it might have been Violet yet again abusing her newfound Claritin abilities to come into the shop."

"And?"

"Well, I heard the upstairs door open, and I turned to meet who I thought was Violet, and got slashed for the trouble."

"Did you see your attacker?"

"It was a man. And it didn't look like any person I've seen around town. However, I did notice, right before I passed out, something green."

"Like…what kind of green?"

"The most eerie and awe-inspiring green you could see. I remember thinking that heaven itself must be as pure as that shade, and I remember thinking that I was going to find out soon!"

Violet started laughing and crying at the same time.

"Tell sis to shut up."

Frank looked at the block storage he used to build things with essence. His hand glowed green as he picked up the block and moved it. The green was one of the most beautiful shades ever.

"Poppy. I think we know who we're dealing with now. We're dealing with an essence mason."

"What?" she cried. "You mean, like you?"

"Only better."

"Oh my!"

Everyone stared at Frank's glowing hand. Was the power to manipulate essences really that corrupting?

"Poppy, stay at the hospital. We'll let you know when something else occurs."

"Ok. Bye all!"

Everyone said 'bye' into Violet's phone and she shut it.

"All right," Frank began. "Let's go find Mayor Rosalyn and get this first case wrapped up."

YAYZ! Let's keep going! Poppy will live, but will everyone else be as lucky?


End file.
